“Yes, dear. I’ll be back again tomorrow.” She looked at the empty tables around her. “Hopefully the others will come to their senses soon, too.”
Olivia sat at the table for several minutes after Jane left, watching people walk by on their way to work. Could she really blame customers for staying away? Not so long ago, would she have been any different?
She had to find a way to fix this, to fix everything.
Chapter 18
Campbell would swear it’d been ages since he’d seen Olivia rather than the mere day since he’d left her apartment. He needed to feed later tonight, had confirmed with Ethan that there were a couple of units of AB-negative available. He wasn’t going to push himself to the breaking point ever again if he could help it. But first he needed to see Olivia, hold her in his arms.
The baroness’s words had reverberated in his head ever since she’d uttered them. He didn’t know if he could totally turn off the thoughts of her mortality or the danger he posed to her, but he couldn’t imagine never seeing her again either.
When he arrived at her apartment, she was lying on her couch watching TV. All he could see of her were her sock-covered feet hanging over one of the couch arms. Hoping he wasn’t disturbing her if she was asleep, he knocked on the balcony window.
It took her a moment, but she rose, turned off the TV and crossed to the door. “Hey,” she said when she opened it and ushered him inside.
Once he was standing in her dining room, she pulled the blinds closed over the sliding glass door.
“You okay?” he asked.
She offered a small smile. “Just a long day.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Are you too tired for company?”
“No.” She wrapped her arms around him and placed her cheek against his chest. “I want you to stay.”
Sensing her fatigue, he led her to the couch and urged her to curl up against him. He kissed the top of her head.
“How’s the abduction investigation going?” she asked.
Campbell’s muscles tightened. “We’ve got a suspect. Just have to find the evidence to prove it.”
“Do you...do you think those people are still alive?”
“I hope so.”
When she fell silent again, he knew something was wrong. He rubbed his hand along her arm. “You’re hiding something from me. What is it?”
“Just had a bit of a dip in the amount of customers today.”
“How much of a dip?”
She let out a long sigh. “A big one. It hasn’t been that bad since I first reopened after the pandemic.”
He knew the reason without her having to say it. “It’s because of me, isn’t it? Someone found out about us?”
She hesitated but then nodded. “I guess one of my neighbors saw you.”
He cursed, then closed his eyes and let his head fall against the back of the couch. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself,” Olivia said as she sat up.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. “Who do you think is at fault?”
“Me, the neighbor who couldn’t keep his or her mouth shut, any vamp who has ever drained a human. Frankly, whoever is behind these kidnappings. It’s not just one thing, though it seems that way.”
“Maybe not, but I was the tipping point.”
“And I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
He shook his head slowly. “How can you say that? It’s hard enough to get by now without having someone like me torpedo your business. Not to mention how your best friend feels.”
“I’ll manage. I always do. I might not be a vampire, but I can be a tough cookie when I set my mind to it.”
He smoothed her hair away from her face and let his fingers travel along the edge of her cheek. “I know. I saw that fight in you the first time we met.” When he’d almost killed her.
Campbell pulled Olivia close and kissed her. He knew he should leave, figure out some way to make things right, but his need for her overpowered any other thoughts.
“Make love to me,” she said in his ear.
“My pleasure.” He lifted her effortlessly in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
* * *
The dip of the bed woke Olivia. She fought off the disorientation of sleep in time to see Campbell stand and pull his pants over long legs and lean hips.
“You’re leaving?”
He didn’t turn toward her. “I have an appointment at the blood bank.”
“You’re hungry?” Despite how she felt about him, the idea of his vampire hunger still stoked fear in the deepest part of her.
“Yes. I don’t like it when I start to think of your blood too much.”
She didn’t like that thought either. Instead she focused on the play of his back muscles as he slipped his T-shirt on. She resisted the urge to ask him when she’d see him again, partly because she didn’t like clingy women and didn’t want to be one. But she had to admit to herself that it was mostly because she didn’t want to give him the opportunity to say, “Never.”
When she tossed off the comforter, he turned toward her.
“No, don’t get up. Go back to sleep.”
Unease stirred inside her, but she didn’t voice it. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, and she became acutely aware of the distance between them.
“I shouldn’t have told you,” she said.
“Told me what?”
“About the loss of customers.”
He stood and slipped on the jacket he didn’t need. “I’m not leaving because of that. I’ve just got a lot to do.” He smiled. “Guy’s got to work for a living.”
Sadness settled in her chest. Though everything he said was true, she knew there was more to it. At least some part of Campbell was running away from her, whether he realized it or not.
* * *
As Campbell drank bagged blood at the blood bank a few minutes later, he berated himself for getting so involved in Olivia’s life. Not only was he a constant danger to her, as his yearning for her blood tonight proved, but now he’d also endangered her livelihood. And Mindy’s. But evidently he was a selfish bastard, because he still didn’t think he could stay away forever. Not even close to forever. But he had to figure out how to make things right.
But how was he supposed to undo this damage? He couldn’t make someone unsee him, couldn’t contact all her customers and tell them he posed no threat and would stay away.
After his feeding and then a fruitless questioning pass through Little Italy, he headed home. When he walked through the door, Travis looked up from his desk.
“Good news,” Travis said. “Olivia’s car has been located in Connecticut.”
Campbell headed toward his own desk with a nod and a sound of acknowledgment.
“And the award for least excitement goes to...” Travis said. “What’s eating you?”
“Olivia’s customers have deserted her diner. Guess whose fault that is.”
Travis adopted a chastised expression. “Sorry.”
Campbell ran his hand back through his hair. “And I have no idea how to fix it.”
“That’s easy,” Kaja said as she walked over from the kitchen with a new mug, this one with a big curly K on it. “Buy a big honking ad in the Times for her. Replace the old customers with new ones.”
Kaja took a drink and sat down at her computer. Instead of work, however, she started playing “Farmville.” For the life of him, he couldn’t imagine what her fascination with that game was.
He thought about what she said. Maybe an ad would help. Couldn’t hurt.